United States

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas have started walking picket lines in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike early Tuesday. The strike is affecting 36 ports. The U.S. Maritime Alliance represents the ports and said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers, but when picket lines went up it was apparent there was no deal.

BELLVUE, Colo. (AP) — The U.S. is struggling to replant forests destroyed by increasingly destructive wildfires, with some areas unlikely to recover. Researchers are studying which species are likely to survive — and where — as climate change makes it difficult or impossible for many forests to regrow. But researchers say the U.S. also lacks enough seed collection, nursery capacity to grow seedlings and workers trained to plant them on a scale needed to stem accelerating losses. The Forest Service says the biggest roadblock is the yearslong task of completing environmental and cultural assessments and preparing severely burned land for replanting.

CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene has made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm as forecasters warn of “catastrophic” flooding along the Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center says Helene came ashore Thursday evening in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Officials have forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Florida’s Apalachee Bay. Hurricane warnings and flash flood warnings extend far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. The governors of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia have all declared emergencies in their states.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — California avocado growers are fuming about a U.S. decision to hand over pest inspections of Mexican orchards to the Mexican government. Inspectors hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been guarding against imports of insects and diseases for decades, but they have also been threatened in Mexico for refusing to certify deceptive shipments. Threats and violence against inspectors have caused the U.S. to suspend inspections a couple of times in recent years. But California growers question whether there is any hope that Mexico’s own inspectors would be better equipped to withstand such pressure.

WYOMING, Iowa (AP) — Taking a country drive in the Midwest means venturing into the corn zone. Snaking between 12-foot-tall green, leafy walls, the corn seems to block out nearly everything other than an occasional water tower. But soon, that towering corn might become a miniature of its former self, replaced by stalks only half as tall as the current green giants. The short corn offers farmers a variety that can withstand powerful windstorms that could become more frequent due to climate change. The smaller plants also let farmers plant at greater density, so they can grow more corn on the same amount of land and increase their profits. That is especially helpful as farmers endure low prices.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential election campaigning is revving back up. Donald Trump heads on Tuesday to Michigan and Vice President Kamala Harris answers questions at a Black journalists forum in Pennsylvania. Their travels come as authorities continue to investigate a second apparent assassination attempt against Trump that’s roiled the race. Trump is holding a town hall in Flint, Michigan, and has appearances later in the week in New York, Washington and North Carolina. Harris will participate in a Philadelphia gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists. That follows a recent appearance before the group by Trump that sparked an uproar when he questioned the vice president’s racial identity.